With Generation 4 we have reduced our carbon footprint by 44%
In the fall of 2021, we published our first carbon footprint data with a full overview of the carbon footprint of each individual BARONS shirt in our assortment. Something no one before us had done in our industry.
Now we are proud to present the revised version. In short: The carbon footprint of your new BARONS shirt is now reduced by 44% compared to the former generations.
Fashion industry: Show us your numbers!
The fashion industry is estimated to be responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions. That's more than international aviation and shipping combined! (source: EPRS). And it's something which needs to be improved.
Admitted. We still have many things to improve. But being open and transparent about our carbon footprint is a big step.
Ultimately, the most important thing we do is to create products that stand the test of time. We design products that meet the highest quality standards and we only do slow fashion.
We want to prove that business shirts can be made in an earth-friendly way - using only single-origin organic cotton and without synthetic fibres. And we hope that many other brands will follow.
How we did it?
The product lifecycle of a shirt is complex and usually involves multiple countries and suppliers. Determining the carbon footprint of each product can therefore only be done if you know the source of the raw materials and the specifics of each supplier. In today's clothing industry this is far from normal.
Our footprint calculations are based on a Cradle-to-Consumer approach meaning that we only consider the production phase and thus do not consider the use phase which can be impacted and manipulated by overly positive assumptions.
Therefore our calculations cover the farming and production of our raw cotton, ginning, spinning, weaving, finishing, sewing, packaging, labels and other auxiliary items. Furthermore, we have mapped and included all transportation emissions.
For information and data sources read here.
Joachim Latocha, Founder
The result
With the assistance of the danish environmental consultancy firm Climaider we calculated the carbon footprint of our shirts to be between 2.9 - 3.9 kg/CO2(e). Thus we have lowered our footprint significantly from Gen 3 to Gen 4.
The primary difference between the specific CO2 footprint of each product is (primarily) caused by the weight difference between our four fabric types. Thus the resulting use of raw materials differs and thereby the resulting footprint.
We work with a near-shore production principle meaning we try to bring all steps of the supply chain as close to the end consumer as possible. Both to add more flexibility in our planning and also to reduce transport distances and hidden black carbon emissions.
The Future
Making clothes will always require materials, energy and transport. But we can do a lot of small things which, combined, have a big impact on the overall footprint of our products.
As for our raw materials, there is limited room for improvement. Therefore we now shift our focus to the smaller components such as buttons, threads and packaging.
The most important factor which could lead to further significant reductions is by working with our suppliers to increase the use of locally installed renewable energy at the production sites (eg. solar) rather than depending on energy directly from the main grids. This will be particularly important in the spinning and finishing steps.
Admitted. We are not yet at our final destination but we have already reduced the average footprint by 44% with Generation 4.
Whitepaper
Climaider has published the following article about the calculations and the underying assumptions. We encourage other clothing brands to join us and show the footprint of their individual products.